National University of Modern Languages
(NUML) started operation as an institute in 1970 to help people communicate and
understand each other in different languages, to assimilate different cultures,
and to act as a springboard for emerging disciplines.

At present, NUML is a fully autonomous
degree awarding university. It now teaches 23 languages in addition to many
emerging arts and sciences. It is open to all persons, regardless of class,
creed, gender, race or color.

In an interview with Pakistan and Gulf
Economist (PAGE), Regional Director National University of Modern Languages (NUML),
Lt. Col. (Retd.) Saeed Ahmed Khan shared his views about education system in
Pakistan.

He said, "We are committed to enhance
the potential of students, faculty, staff and all segments of the society by
bringing a positive change in their personal and career lives. We are motivating
them for self-enlightenment through quality education, personality development,
true professionalism, and career planning and thus adding value to our nation
and ultimately to humanity."

He said, "Every country/society has its
own needs. Western education system is not suitable to our needs. The education
system and western culture differs from that of ours. Therefore, blindly
following a foreign model and ignoring one's cultural needs will ultimately lead
to disaster. So change should be gradual in accordance with the socio-cultural
requirements of the country."

He was of the view that with little
effort public sector could give better outcomes than private sector. The vision
of public sector is normally restricted due to financial constraints, which
resultantly mar its progress. In this connection, firm commitment and hard work
can lead to marked improvement, he insisted. That is why NUML focuses on
commitment to hard work on part of the staff and the students, he said.

First of all, he argued, it is the
responsibility of the parents to guide their children to the right direction.
The choice of subjects must be result oriented. Thereon is the responsibility of
the education institutions. "NUML is deeply concerned with the issue therefore,
curriculum designing and evaluation system are planned accordingly," he added.
Moreover, he said, we regularly organize career fairs to provide students a
forum for exposure to job market and help them in getting jobs. Fifty companies
participated in the previous career fair. We are going to hold another career
fair very soon.

According to him, one of the reasons
for the failure of our education system is its dependence upon the delivery of
static information. The information that may have become outdated in 60s
continues till next 40 to 50 years. The syllabus must be kept updated to meet
the demands of new age. Hence, updating of course outline is a regular feature
of NUML. Our syllabus is designed by prestigious and learned academicians, who
have expertise in curriculum designing. Further, it is keenly scrutinized and
revised to keep it in accordance with the demands of modern era.

Mr. Saeed said, "Our syllabus outline
is formulated by the main campus and I personally go through the text of the
syllabus and find it up to date and well designed. As there is always a room for
improvement so we give our feed back to the main campus."

He further said it was true that in
Pakistan the education system, in general, had an evaluation set up that
encouraged rot learning. Students who may not otherwise be hardworking cram
material without understanding its spirit and get good marks in the examination.
The product of such a system is not capable of adjusting itself with the
everyday increasing demands of the practical work.

"Knowledge must develop understanding
of the subject in particular and practical approach towards life in general.
Therefore, NUML is striving hard to attain this objective by developing critical
thinking in the students which grooms their personality and in the long run and
leads to the development of the society," he added.

He said that quality of instruction was
the basic hallmark of NUML. The level of instruction in NUML is based on human
psychology and character building. "We promote use of latest teaching techniques
and methodology. Likewise a great emphasis is given to character building. A
constant effort is kept in hand to raise the level of instruction and the
learning capacity of the students. As an academic organization, NUML focuses
upon the improvement of its students in studies as well as character building.
To attain this goal, two aspects are kept in mind. First is the need of society
and second is to design the modus operandi to meet the target. The background of
the student is of great significance in this regard. Maximum attention is paid
to enable them to avail the opportunities equally, despite the fact that they
belong to different segments of the society. It helps in developing the
personality of the students as well as enables them to cope with social needs."

About his responsibilities in NUML, he
said as a Regional Director he was the in charge of Lahore campus. "I am
supposed to look after the campus as a whole, which includes academics and
administration. The former is related with quality teaching, provision of
material for classes as well as examination and maximum resources like books,
Internet etc. while the latter includes the management of the campus,
classrooms, provision of audio visual aids, computer labs, library etc. In case,
we have some ambiguity we consult main campus at Islamabad and for this purpose
we have sound communication system," he concluded.

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